After several years as a successful ghostwriter, then launching the bestselling post-apocalyptic serial, Yesterday's Gone, Platt wanted The Digital Writer to do things differently. It's his mission to give back to the modern writer – helping good writers make a great living by giving them the tools they need to truly succeed.

The Digital Writer website is the online limb for the line of writing resource books published by Sterling & Stone. The website boasts a free Members Area, packed with helpful tools, valuable resources, and exclusive content – printables and worksheets to augment their line of eBooks – so writers can do more in less time.

Platt says, “Twitter is just a buzzword, until you have a plan. We only have so many social media minutes, and every one of them is easy to waste. Get it right, and you will build a bigger fan base, sell more books, and move more widgets.”

He adds, “Too often, smart people are thrust into a stupid situation, not knowing their goals and thus confused about the workflow required to mine the most from their time with the tool. Twitter is a tool, not a toy. And that’s probably the number one problem digital writers, and professional users in general, have when using Twitter. They don’t understand the difference.”

The Guide details the most important reasons to use Twitter, including tribe building, membership, observation, networking, trend watching, traffic, and growing as a writer and marketer.

Yet, Platt also cautions that those are merely reasons, not goals. There is a difference, and using Twitter intelligently means understanding that difference.

“Regardless of your reasons, your number one aim should be building authority — not attention. Attention is fleeting; authority is leverage for a better life.”

The post covers:

Building Authority Instead of Attention
How to Tweet as a Newbie (And Look Like a Pro)
Why Manners Make it Easy For People to Follow You
Twitter Best Practices
How to Find and Join the Right Conversations
How to Be Interesting (Even If You Don’t Think You Are)
How to Drive Behavior on Twitter (Even If You’re Not a Copywriter)
Using Headlines on Twitter
How to Find Your Top Fans, Promoters and Evangelists
How to Get More Followers

Since no Twitter Guide would be complete without a list of people to follow on Twitter, the post concludes with a list of people Platt suggests every Digital Writer should follow. The list includes publishing authorities such as Jane Friedman, Jonathan Fields, and Michael Hyatt; social media voices such as Mari Smith, Jason Falls, and Lisa Barone, and blogging mavericks like Chris Guillebeau and Kristi Hines.

And to make the post especially bookmark worthy, "The Ultimate Guide to Building a Tribe on Twitter" gathers some of the best Twitter posts previously published from around the web.